


my neighbors are weird

by haewon



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: M/M, chenle and jisung are scared, jeno and jaemin don't help, mark is a huge nerd and donghyuck is just donghyuck, renjun is the smart one as always (lol), this is literally so weird and i have no good explanation for this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-17
Updated: 2018-12-17
Packaged: 2019-09-20 17:58:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17027394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/haewon/pseuds/haewon
Summary: Mark lives a peaceful life filled with dreams of space and stars until his neighbors move in and change everything.Do realtors just sell houses to literally anyone or what?





	my neighbors are weird

**Author's Note:**

> hey guys. wow. it's been MONTHS.
> 
> i'm in college now! yay! survived my semester so i'm back to writing on this break.
> 
> this was definitely inspired by a manga i read! i love it...
> 
> this is my first NCT fic because i've been in love with them for like..the whole year. also, love mark lee.
> 
> btw this is not ending the way you think it is. LOL
> 
> i hope u enjoy!

For as long as Mark Lee could remember, he’d wanted to be an astronaut. Maybe it began when his father took him out stargazing for the first time when he was five, or the toy spaceship he got for his eighth birthday. The endless sea of darkness that folded over him once the sun went down was the most fascinating thing in the world to him. 

That was until his neighbors moved next door in his tenth year of life. 

His old neighbors were an elderly couple who could no longer afford to commute from their house outside of the city to work, so they moved closer, which left the house vacant for almost a year. 

And soon after they came. 

Mark sat in the dewy grass, the light rain from the morning leaving everything encased in the shiny residue. His spaceship was flying high in the sky, his hand gripping one of the wings as he flew it around in circles. 

It was then that he heard a loud engine rumble around the corner of the street he lived on, and he turned his gaze to spot a large moving truck, heading straight towards him. Mark sat perfectly still as the truck zoomed passed him and into the driveway of the house next to his. 

Interested to see what was going on, he stood to run up to the white picket fence that separated the two properties to peek through the space between two of the narrow pieces of wood. His eyes faltered slightly when he saw that no one was in the driver’s seat – or anywhere to be seen. 

Mark fell back onto the wet grass, kicking up dirt as he ran to grab his toy and head into the house, confused and a bit frightened. His mother was by the sink, washing the dishes that they had used for breakfast earlier that morning. 

“Mom, no one was driving the moving truck!” Mark all but shouts, his eyes wide. “I saw it pull into the driveway and no one got out, mom, I’m telling you it was so weird!”

“Hold on Mark, slow down,” his mother wipes her hands off with a spare towel and goes to Mark, bending down to ruffle his hair. “I was informed that our new neighbors wouldn’t be here until later tonight, so please don’t worry. I’m sure the movers were just too quick for you to see.”

Mark shook his head indignantly, huffing a bit before accepting defeat and retreating to his room. He crawled up the stairs and opened the door before quietly shutting it. Posters of astronauts and sci-fi movies with characters battling one another littered the walls, glow-in-the-dark stickers plastered on the ceiling. The young boy placed his spaceship toy on his desk and headed directly to his telescope that pointed out his window. 

He shrugged his shoulders. If his mom said that no one was there, it wouldn’t be too weird, would it? Mark bent down and adjusted the lens before directing the telescope towards the large center window, barely grazing over the fence. 

The room was empty, save for a china cabinet and a large glass chandelier. Mark was starting to lose interest when out of the corner of his eyes he spotted something, and suddenly he was making eye contact with a large, green, sludgy looking creature. He let out a sharp yelp, falling back away from the telescope. 

Mark gained his composure again and immediately went to close the blinds, rushing forward and pulling the string down. His room was blanketed by darkness. 

The young boy stayed in his room for the whole day, only going down to greet his father who came back from work and to eat dinner. 

The family sat around the table, and Mark dejectedly picked at a piece of bread that floated around in his soup.

“So, did you do anything fun today, Mark?” his father asked, sipping at the soup Mark’s mother had made. Mark stayed silent.

“He told me he saw the neighbors truck driving by itself,” his mother commented, smiling silently. “And sweetie, I heard that our new neighbors will be moving in later tonight.”

“Of course, their landlord contacted me to ask that we watch over them. They’re new to the city and might need our help with things,” his father laughed. “Odd, but I didn’t question it. Some people are like that.”

Mark’s mother’s eyes lit up at her husband’s playful tone, “I should make them cookies or something, as a house-warming gift.”

Mark didn’t say anything but continued to slurp on his soup. And suddenly he wasn’t very hungry anymore. 

“May I be excused?” he slunk back into his chair. His father caught on to his unusual behavior and exchanged a knowing glance with his wife. 

“Yes, you may, but remember to brush your teeth before going to bed, okay, Mark Lee?” his mother promoted him, and Mark nodded his head ever so slightly before heading to his room. 

 

“I wonder what’s going on with him?” his father asked, a sigh escaping his lips.

His mother gripped her husband’s hand tightly, “Don’t worry, I’m sure he’s just upset that someone is moving in next door. You knew how close he was to the Kim’s.”

 

Mark eyed himself in the mirror, toothpaste escaping the sides of his mouth as he brushed his teeth. He spits into the sink and washed out his mouth before trailing back towards his room. Once he entered, he closes the door behind him and slipped on a pair of fresh pajamas before looking over to the window. 

He got shivers again, remembering the encounter he had earlier today. What was worse, his parents not believing him or the strange creature that was now his next-door neighbor?

Mark walked over to the window and hesitantly peeked through the curtains. He couldn’t see as well without the telescope, but he could tell that this time the lights in the house were on. He never heard any cars pull in, so when did his neighbors arrive? 

Mark continued to look through the blinds until he saw a figure streak across his vision. For the third time that day, he fell back onto the floor. Rubbing his backside, he let out a pained gasp as he threw himself onto his bed. 

“Great, what am I going to do now?” he muttered to himself before his eyes flicker shut and he’s out like a light. 

 

“Mark Lee, come down here! Our new neighbors are here!” his mother shouts from down the stairs, and Mark hears the distinct ring of the doorbell. He slips on a pair of faded jeans before he practically throws himself down the stairs to stand beside his mother as his father opens the door. 

“Hello,” the family greets, and Mark is taken aback. The family, consisting of a mother, a father, and a young boy were all so pretty that Mark couldn’t take his eyes off of them. “We’re your new neighbors, the Lee’s.”

“Of course, thank you so much for stopping by, would you like to come in?” Mark’s mother smiles brightly, her eyes folded into crescent moons. “We can introduce ourselves over some refreshments.”

The parent’s look hesitantly at each other before the mother suddenly nods in agreement, and Mark’s father leads them inside and to the table, where they take their seats on the other side of the dining table. The young boy sat in between his parent’s and Mark couldn’t help but stare. He was captivating. 

“—and this is our son Mark, he’s just turned ten about a month ago,” his mother introduces him, “and it was just the other day he got out of diapers.”

Mark flushed furiously, and a giggle escaped the other boy, which made Mark flush even more. 

“This is Donghyuck, he’s a year younger than your Mark,” Donghyuck’s mother says, and the young boy flashed a grin. Mark makes eye contact with Donghyuck, and the sensation of yesterday’s events come back to him, and he looks away. 

“Donghyuck is so cute, he looks just like you,” Mark’s mother comments, and the parents all laugh together. This time it’s Donghyuck’s turn to stare, Mark guesses. 

After the lemonade was gone, Mark’s mother brought the cookies from the fridge to place them into Donghyuck’s mother’s hands. “Please stop by whenever you want to, you are always welcomed!”

“Thank you so much, I’m glad we moved in next to such kind people,” the father smiles, ruffling Mark’s hair as a goodbye. 

When the family left, Mark watched from the window as they walked down the driveway and onto the sidewalk, disappearing beyond the fence. 

“Well, weren’t they just so nice!” Mark’s mother gushed happily, placing her hands on her cheeks. “And so attractive, as if they came from another planet!”

 

School had let out for the summer, which meant that Mark had a whole three months to play in the dewy grass in his front yard. This also meant that Donghyuck had lived next to him for about nine months. They had grown to be great friends, best, but he felt lonely at school without Donghyuck. Of course, he had other friends to play with, but Donghyuck was different from everyone else at his middle school.

Strange enough, the younger boy didn’t go to school. When his parents asked Donghyuck’s parents why, the Lee’s stated he just wasn’t fit enough for it, so most of his learning was done at home. Mark didn’t question it, but still, it would have been nice to have his friend with him for most of the day. 

He’s playing with his spaceship when something settles down next to him, and that squeaky voice says, “Hi Mark, what are you doing?”

“Hey, Donghyuck,” Mark smiles lightly, “You wanna play again today?"

“Yeah! This time I wanna be the astronaut and you can be the alien!” Donghyuck states, crossing his arms, “or else,” Donghyuck pauses to think before saying, “I’m gonna go home.”

“Okay, fine,” Mark hands the toy spaceship to the younger boy, “but be careful, okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, I know!” Donghyuck grabs the spaceship out of Mark’s hands and begins to run across the grass, his feet leaving sharp indents on the ground. Mark chases after him, his fingers wiggling as he if was about tickle the younger. They begin to laugh, and eventually, Mark has the younger cornered between his house and the end of the fence. 

“Give it up captain, let me eat your brains!” Mark giggles, stepping closer to Donghyuck. 

“You’re an alien, not a zombie!” Donghyuck struggles to say, his laughter getting the best of him. “Alien’s want hearts, silly!” 

Something in Mark’s chest starts to thump, but he ignores it to focus on his game. 

He’s going to win.

“Give me your heart!” Mark changes his dialogue, launching himself forward to tackle Donghyuck to the ground. But he miscalculates his leap and ends up crashing right into the younger’s legs, knocking over Donghyuck and sending the spaceship falling to the ground, the toy landing with a sick _crunch_.

Ignoring his toy, Mark immediately begins to inspect his friend. 

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry Donghyuck! Are you okay?” He flips Donghyuck over to see one of the pieces of his now broken toy had cut Donghyuck across the hand, but instead of a red blood, a thin green liquid begins to spew from the wound. 

Donghyuck just stares at his hand, and then back up at Mark. Mark doesn’t say anything as the younger simply gets up off the ground and runs back to his home, his feet not leaving an indent in the grass upon his retreat. 

 

“Can you guys shut up, I’m trying to finish this problem,” Mark hisses, his pencil furiously scratching the paper, his lips sealed in a thin line. 

“It’s not my fault you decided to take advanced physics,” Jeno laughs, throwing an arm over Jaemin as the younger makes sick kissy faces at Mark. 

“And it’s also not our fault that you didn’t do your homework,” Renjun adds, peering over Jeno’s tray to snatch a fry off of Chenle’s. The younger huffs before Jisung offers one of his own. 

“Okay, but Donghyuck’s family came over for dinner last night,” Mark hums as he plugs something into his calculator and mutters something along the lines of ‘ _this can’t be right_.’

“Oh, so you’re hanging out with your boyfriend instead of getting those A’s,” Jaemin says dramatically. He smiles before adding, “well, D’s get degrees too, I guess.” Jeno lets out an overbearing laugh, smacking his thigh as Renjun all but rolls his eyes. 

“Just ignore them Mark-hyung. I’m just glad to hear you’re getting along with him again," Renjun smiles reassuringly. 

Mark ignores Jaemin’s comment, shrugging his shoulders. “Well, we rarely talk anymore. He goes to a private school now and only comes back over the weekends.” 

“Though you can’t deny that his family is a bit weird, right?” Chenle prompts, ignoring the glare he receives from Mark. “They never leave the house, it feels like no one even lives there half the time. Like, seriously, when was the last time you even saw them outside?”

“He’s right,” Jisung speaks up. “You should ask Donghyuck-hyung what’s up. You guys know each other like the back of your hands, right? I think he’ll trust you enough.”

“What if it’s something weird like they’re members of the mafia who moved to escape death threats or something?” Jaemin asks. 

“Or superheroes who can’t reveal their powers to anyone without being outcasted from society?” Jeno adds on, and the two begin to laugh together again. 

“If you guys don’t have anything to contribute to this conversation, please stop!” Renjun growls, and both Jeno and Jaemin shut their mouths. 

“I don’t know,” Mark sighs, shutting his physics book and pushing it aside. “It’s been like, years since I’ve had an actual conversation with him. I said like two words to him last night before he just got up and left. Didn’t even say goodbye.” 

“Well clearly something is wrong, and it’s best to talk it out. Go over to his house or something, make the first move,” Renjun offers up, and Mark shakes his head. 

“I’ve never been to his house before. He’s made it very clear that I’m not allowed to even step on the lawn,” Mark laughs, but nothing about that is funny. 

“That’s awful! See, I knew something was totally wrong with this,” Chenle frowns. “Don’t go there by yourself, who knows what could happen!”

“Stop talking like that,” Jisung whimpers, “it’s scary.”

“Don’t even start Chenle,” Renjun’s gaze hardens. “Donghyuck is important to us too. Because Mark-hyung is a special friend, we support the two of them.”

“That’s sappy,” Jaemin comments. 

“But really, don’t talk like he’s going to get abducted or something,” Jeno grimaces. 

Mark couldn’t even bring himself to laugh. 

 

The drive home from school wasn’t a fun one. The disappointed look his physics teacher had on her face when he handed her his unfinished homework and the conversation at lunch left him with a bad feeling in his stomach. 

His friends were right, though he hated to admit it. Donghyuck wasn’t really the one to approach him with his problems, so it was best he did it himself. Mark was determined. He would knock on the door, Mr. or Mrs. Lee would answer, and he would ask if Donghyuck was there, and they’d talk it out and be best friends again.

Then he realized it was Thursday, and it would have to wait. 

 

Bright and earlier Saturday morning, Mark read a few encouraging texts from his friends before he got dressed to head over to Donghyuck’s house. His mother was at the table, setting it up for breakfast when Mark hobbled down the stairs, buttoning his shirt. 

“Well, well. Where are you going looking all spiffy?” his mother teased, and Mark smiled.

“I’m going to go over to Donghyuck’s,” is all he supplies to the conversation, and his mother nods her head. 

“It’s about time,” she says before Mark is out the door. 

His heart is thumping in his chest. He’s a nervous wreck, Donghyuck might even be able to hear his heavy breathing from his room. 

Mark steps onto the sidewalk and crosses his side of the fence. Almost immediately Mark feels the air shift. A huge pressure begins to bear down on him, and Mark really hopes it’s a part of his imagination. 

He reaches the front steps and takes a deep, ragged breath before knocking on the door. He waits for what seems like forever, and no one comes. _Weird_.

Mark knocks again, and still, nothing happens. He feels bad, but Donghyuck and Mark are really good friends, right? His parents and Donghyuck’s get along really well, going inside uninvited wouldn’t be such a bad idea, would it? 

Mark doesn’t have time to rethink before he reaches for the door, and strange enough, it’s unlocked. He begins to get nervous, thinking someone might have broken in and his friend and his family might have been injured. _Always go to the worst case scenario_. 

“Hyuck? Mr. Lee? Mrs. Lee? Are you guys okay?” he calls out into the quiet house. He takes in the immediate visual in front of him and almost lets out a gasp.

There isn’t any furniture in the entrance way. The blinds are closed, and the house is extremely dark. Mark can feel his hand trembling as he closes the door, and soon he’s trapped in darkness. If he was younger, the Mark from that time would have pretended he was in space, exploring the moon.

This Mark was afraid for himself and his neighbors. 

“Hyuck?” he calls out again, this time a bit rougher. His breathing is labored, and his heart feels like it’s going to rip itself out of his chest. He enters the living room, and once again, it’s empty.

Mark holds his breath as he crosses through the living room and into the dining room. There’s a table, chairs, the chandelier, and the china cabinet. It doesn’t take long for the realization to hit him.

The only furniture in this house is in the place where only _he_ can see in.

“Oh, my god,” Mark cries. He knows he should go, run away and never talk to Donghyuck or associate with his parents again, but he can’t. The younger is too important to him. He needs to find out what’s going on, he has too.

He rushes through the house, but nothing is out of the ordinary. Of course, every room is empty, and it doesn’t look like anyone had ever lived here to begin with. Mark trails back down the stairs to check the fridge, and his suspicions confirmed that there wasn’t any food, and probably never was because hot air blasts his face. 

“Just what the hell is going on here?” Mark whispers to himself when something catches his eye. There’s a small, faint light coming from the room behind the stairs.

 _Oh_ , he thinks, _the basement_. “Of course, all the creepy shit happens down here. Chenle was right.”

If Mark turned any of the lights on or even opened the blinds, he wouldn’t have seen it. He takes a long, drawn-out breath before opening it. Inside there’s a singular lightbulb illuminating the hard-wooden stairs. If Mark was being honest, it looked like some sort of torture dungeon. 

He takes one step and the stair creaks under his weight. He’s about run home crying when he hears a muffled voice, and suddenly his eyes light up. _Someone is down here_!

Mark makes his way down the stairs, and at the bottom, there’s a door. It’s metal, looking more like some sort of freezer than a laundry room. Mark prays to God that there aren’t bodies down here. 

He lifts the latch up and pushes the door open and is immediately blasted with freezing cold air. Surrounded in darkness, he blindly searches for a light switch or something, and when he finally finds one, he flicks it up.

Mark wishes he didn’t.

His sight is consumed by suits of flesh, of course, of the Lee’s. The problem isn’t that his neighbors are now suits of skin like some _Silence of the Lamb_ bullshit, there’s more than one. The suits line the wall, hung up on strings like some sort of butcher shop.

Mark lets out a grotesque scream and falters back onto the concrete. He narrowly avoids hitting his head on the stairs, but remains on the ground, his eyes welling with tears. 

“Mark?” A voice sounds into the darkness. A voice Mark knows very well, in its squeaky entirety. 

“Hyuck? Are you okay? What the hell is going on?” he cries into the darkness, towards the direction of Donghyuck’s voice. 

“You weren’t supposed to go in there. My mom and dad are going to be angry with you, and who knows what they’ll do to you,” Donghyuck whispers, and Mark can barely hear him.

“What do you mean, angry? What the fuck?” Mark yells, angry tears filling in eyes. “What the fuck is wrong with you people? Why do you have those, those _things_ in your basement?”

“Can you stop shouting? It’s annoying me,” Donghyuck sighs, and when he slips into the light Mark wishes he could look away, “and stop cursing, it sounds weird when you say fuck."

“What, what the hell are you?” Mark shouts, his voice breaking. “This can’t be real.”

Illuminated in the light isn’t the Donghyuck that Mark knows, but a creature, a disgusting, green creature. 

The one Mark saw on that fateful day eight years ago. 

“Oh, this is real, and you fucked up,” Donghyuck hisses, pointing a slimy green finger at Mark. 

Mark really wants to know what he fucked up when he hears footsteps coming down the stairs and looks up to see two larger figures with the same features as the Donghyuck he’s facing, and his face drains of color. 

“Oh, Donghyuck! I didn’t know you brought Mark for a playdate,” the shorter one says, and it smiles. If that gross face contorting was considered smiling, “next time you should put your suit on before inviting him over!” 

“This isn’t a playdate, mom, and he just invited himself over!” Donghyuck insisted. “I didn’t even have time to put my skin on. God, I hate this house.”

“Well I guess we’ll just have to spill the beans,” the taller one, Donghyuck’s father laughs. “And we’d been doing so well.”

“I really thought we were going to be able to complete our mission,” the mother sighs.

“Mission?” Mark questions, getting up from his fetal position on the floor to stand up against the wall and as far away from his neighbors as possible.

“Yeah, our mission to destroy Earth,” Donghyuck says, and Mark almost laughs. That sounded so obscure that it sounded like a lie. But obviously, it wasn't. “Can’t say I expected my parents to be cool with all this though.” 

Mark says nothing as Donghyuck’s parents retreat down the rest of the stairs and go into the freezer to retrieve their suits. Mark watches with wide eyes as they zip up, and suddenly the Donghyuck he knows is standing before him again.

“We’re aliens, Mark. You aren’t very smart, are you?” Donghyuck teases, and Mark can’t help but flush, even now.

“Aliens? Are you serious?” Mark’s eyes widen comically, and Donghyuck’s father laughs. 

“Yes, and we were sent here on a mission to infiltrate Earth and once we got the information we needed, destroy it. But then we moved in next to you, and we were completely smitten,” Donghyuck’s mother began, but stopped herself. “Let’s go upstairs, this isn’t a very nice place to talk,” and soon they all slip past Mark and head to the stairs. 

Donghyuck trails after his mother and Mark has to shake his head to regain himself. His best friend and his parents are aliens who want to blow up the Earth. He’s talking to aliens, he’s talking to real, intergalactic aliens.

“Oh my god, this is so cool,” Mark voices, and the three look over to him as they sit across the table, like when they first met. “I can’t believe this! I mean, I guess once you get passed all the discolored goo and the green slime it’s pretty awesome.”

“You aren’t afraid? You really are an idiot,” Donghyuck mutters, before a look from his mother silences any of his other thoughts. 

“Please ignore him, he’s just happy,” Donghyuck’s father presses and Donghyuck’s cheeks go red and he looks away.

“Don’t misunderstand, this was our mission. But when we met your parents, they were so welcoming. In our society, humans are viewed as cruel and malicious monsters, but that couldn’t have been true because you existed. You were kind, you marveled of space and our kind, and devoted your time to learn about us. We relayed this back to our leader, and we were decommissioned. Now we want to live here amongst you, and to continue being together,” Donghyuck’s mother concludes.

“I’m so sorry if we scared you, even after so long we aren’t really adjusted to human formalities. I think we should start with buying a, what do humans call that?” Donghyuck’s father pauses to think. “Ah, yes! A couch.”

Mark is in awe. His eyes swell and he feels himself beginning to tear up, “I can’t express my gratitude, really. Mr. and Mrs. Lee, you two are so kind and the most important friends my parents have,” he shifts his gaze over to Donghyuck, who can’t meet his eyes, “and you’re my best friend, Hyuck.”

“Mark, come here,” Hyuck grabs Mark’s hand and pulls him up the stairs and to what would probably have been his room if he wasn’t, you know, an alien. 

They sit down on the ground in awkward silence, until Donghyuck speaks up. “I might act like I’m mad, but I’m glad we were able to tell you everything. I really thought you would have figured everything out by now. Especially when I broke your spaceship.”

“I was way too young to think of any logical explanation for that. And it doesn’t even matter to me, I just missed you and wanted to talk over why you’d been ignoring me,” Mark starts, wiping his eyes with his sleeve. “But I get it now, so I guess we’re cool.”

“Don’t talk to me like I’m one of the boys, Mark. And just to make things clear, I wasn’t ignoring you. I go to school back on my planet. My parents sent me away so I could keep my distance from you because apparently I was getting _too attached_ ,” Donghyuck begins, “and also, I’ve been thinking about it, but I think they were right. I like you.”

“Well I like you too, that’s why we’re friends,” Mark laughs, and Donghyuck pouts.

“No! The kind of like where you want to kiss, and stuff,” Donghyuck lowers his voice, his cheeks red with embarrassment. “I’ve done a lot of research on it. Asked some humans my parents know, and I definitely want to kiss you, so…” Donghyuck trails off. “Say something!”

“Don’t worry, I feel like same,” Mark mumbles, placing a hesitant kiss on Donghyuck’s cheek. Donghyuck reciprocates the action, except he plants a gentle kiss on the corner of Mark’s lips, and the older swoons.

The two boys sit in silence until Mark decides he’s had enough, “So, like, are we dating?”

“What’s that?” Donghyuck asks excitedly, his doe eyes shining with curiosity. "Is it like an upgraded version of friendship?"

“Kind of, but I’ll explain that later,” Mark laughs, “anyways, do you have a real spaceship?”

“Please don’t use me for my stupid spaceship,” Donghyuck sighs, his mouth widening into a large grin. "Or else."

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading!!!
> 
> “y’all some murderers?”
> 
> “nah man we just aliens”
> 
> “sick”


End file.
